Arsenal may have gained an unwanted reputation as a selling club in recent
times, but Arsène Wenger followed the line from his employer last night in
moving to play down suggestions of a £1.5 billion takeover from an unnamed
Middle Eastern consortium.

Reports in two newspapers yesterday suggested that a group of investors from
the United Arab Emirates planned to offer £830 million to Stan Kroenke,
Arsenal’s largest shareholder, for his 66.64 per cent stake in the club,
which would represent a profit of more than £300 million on his original
acquisition. It was reported that, if successful, the consortium